Growing a real life business with quarterly plans and long term goals

Date: 19/06/2019 | By: lizpaintercommacomma

Our BizSmart Select Members – the carefully vetted businesses we recommend to our own clients – regularly end up working with us as BizSmart clients too. It’s a circular relationship where everyone benefits.

And Matthew Parsons, the MD of Surf Tech IT, is no stranger to this symbiotic relationship. As well as being our go to IT support service provider, Matt has benefited from taking part in BizSmart’s Boost Camp.

Boost Camp is our four-month programme that looks closely at four areas in your business:

Leadership – Understanding yourself as a leader and becoming more effective

Value – Building a valuable business is linked to building a scalable business

Vision – Using the SmartVision tool to plan quarters and run the business in a series of quarterly sprints

Rhythm – Creating a balance between being strategic and running things day to day.

One group session each month, in the company of other business owners, focuses on each of these areas. This is followed up with a 1:1 call after each meeting.

Many of the business owners who sign up to Boost Camp continue on and join our Smart Boards – our version of a monthly “mastermind” where business owners benefit from learning and being held accountable alongside other business owners.

Here’s what Matt had to say about the trajectory of his business as he’s worked with BizSmart.

In the beginning

“When I first started out in business I was a bit wet behind the ears. I wanted to create this massive company in an unrealistic timeframe. BizSmart helped me put a realistic 3-year plan in place and create solid business processes.

“I haven’t achieved exactly what was in the plan, which was to go from start-up to £500k turnover in 3 years. But I did hit £310k in 3 years, and the business continues to grow.

“I now attend ongoing SmartBoard meetings – we do quarterly plans, key thrusts and I have a long term 10-15 year goal. We get more granular and ask ourselves, ‘What am I going to achieve over the next year, and what are my quarterly targets?’

“My long term goal is to be a key player within this county and surrounding counties. I’ve already been approached by two different companies to be bought out, but I don’t plan to exit. I’d like to get to a point where the business runs itself, but I’m still a part of it.

“I like the idea of being part of something I’ve built and I don’t like the idea of selling. From my perspective, it’s not all about money. Selling would mean losing control, and the business could mean we lose the ethos of why people bought into us in the first place.”